Nathan Hale
1755 to 1776
Patriot spy hanged by the British at twenty one
Founders and leaders
Nathan Hale entered Yale at fourteen, graduated, and became a schoolteacher before joining the Continental Army. In September 1776 he volunteered to go behind British lines in New York to gather intelligence, was caught, and was hanged on September 22, at twenty one. A British officer who was there reported that his last words included the line: I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.
No portrait of him made in his lifetime has ever been found, so every statue of him is imagined. The best known, by Bela Pratt, stands in front of Connecticut Hall at Yale, the building he lived in as a student, finished in 1752 and the oldest building in New Haven. Stand beside him and look out across the Old Campus the way he faces.
This story has not been written in your language yet, so it is shown in English.
Where to meet them
New Haven
- Connecticut HallStop 2, Yale, from the Old Campus to the libraries
- Harkness TowerStop 4, Yale, from the Old Campus to the libraries